12/5/01

When Colgate University
professor Barry Shain was asked to appear as a guest on a student-run
television program that would address the question "Are Students At
Colgate Too Sensitive About Race?" he replied in e-mail that he would
like to address the seemingly more relevant question of whether some
minority and female students were being "invited to offer opinions
about their 'feelings' rather than advance reasoned opinions derived
from careful examination of the written materials encountered in
class." Shain also expressed his concern "that too many students of
color are seduced into taking exotic courses that make few demands on
them rather than those courses that force them to grow emotionally and
intellectually." These comments were interpreted as "racially
insensitive" and led 70 students to occupy the school's admission
office for over seven hours.